Jeli Balafon – 17 Key

Balafon are a wooden keyed percussive idiophone of West Africa. Balafon is a Manding name, but variations exist across West Africa, including the Balangi (Sierra Leone), Gyil (Dagara), Lobi and Gurunsi (Ghana, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire).

These professional quality Guinean Jeli Bala are hand made by master artisans from individually tuned Khadi hardwood keys, Cow hide and Calabash. The keys of the Balafon are tuned to each other in diatonic scale. It is the wood which set these bala apart – Khadi is premier wood used in making the world’s best Bala. Below the key bed are calabash gourds which serve as resonators. Each gourd has a small hole with very thin paper (traditionally a thin membrane) over it, which creates the buzzing resonance that is so characteristic of West African music.